Listen to recordings of Fox Sparrow songs from the
Library of Natural Sounds:

Birders in the eastern United States and in many parts of the West are likely to see Fox Sparrows only during migration or winter, for this large sparrow nests in northern and western Canada and in mountainous areas in the western states. It breeds in brushy wooded areas, especially those with stunted trees and streamside thickets, where it forages on the ground, scratching amid the leaf litter for millipedes, spiders, and insects. In coastal areas, Fox Sparrows may also feed on tiny crustaceans.

During winter Fox Sparrows subsist on a variety of vegetable foods, especially the seeds of weeds and grasses. Its wintering range extends from the southeastern United States as far north as Newfoundland, in the lower elevations of the Southwest and along the West Coast. Winter habitat in the western areas is typically chaparral and streamside thickets; in the East they inhabit low, moist areas with tall brush or wet woods, such as maple swamps. The Fox Sparrow's loud, ringing, whistled songs are occasionally heard during migration.

The widespread Fox Sparrow appears to be in the early stages of speciation, the process of isolated forms of one species differentiating to become separate and distinct species. Fox Sparrows have long been subdivided into as many as 18 subspecies, a number exceeded only by subspecific divisions of the Song Sparrow and the Horned Lark. Geographically and morphologically, all of these subspecies fall naturally into three groups. Some researchers have already proposed elevating these groups to full species level, a position supported by the results of recent mitochondrial DNA analyses that show the groups are genetically distinct. In addition, the songs sung by each group differ.

The three groups-and one author's proposed common names-are the "Red Fox Sparrow" (the boreal rusty-backed form breeding from Newfoundland to Alaska), the "Sooty Fox Sparrow" (the northern Pacific Coast brown-backed form), and the "Slate-colored Fox Sparrow" (the western montane gray-backed form). Furthermore, a group of slate-colored Fox Sparrows from the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada may be distinct enough to warrant its own designation as a fourth species, the "Large-billed Fox Sparrow."

Description: Fox Sparrows are large sparrows (approximately seven inches in length), conspicuously striped on their underparts, with long legs, long wings, and slightly rounded or double-rounded tails. They are larger than the similarly patterned Song Sparrow and usually have a two-toned bill rather than the Song Sparrow's uniformly colored bill. Song Sparrows lack the rusty tones of the Red Fox Sparrow and are more pale than most western Fox Sparrows

"Red Fox Sparrow"
This sparrow is rusty red in color, especially on its back, rump, wings, and tail, with extensive rufous to almost black blotchy streaking on its breast and flanks that may merge into a central spot on the breast. The crown is gray and the mantle is streaked with rust on its back. The two-tone bill is grayish brown above and pale yellowish below. The face shows a pattern of a gray supercilium, rusty ear coverts, a white chin and throat, with a bright, rusty moustachial stripe.

"Sooty Fox Sparrow"
This is the darkest Fox Sparrow-dark brown to nearly black unstreaked upperparts with extensive dark brown streaking and spotting on its underparts. This sparrow appears large-headed and small-billed. It has little, if any, gray in its plumage, unless it has a gray wash on its face, and no rufous tones. The dark, evenly colored head has pale eye crescents; the face is unpatterned; and the chin and throat have extensive brown flecks. The bill is dark above, somewhat paler below, and may be an orange-yellow color at the base.

"Slate-colored Fox and Large-billed Fox sparrows"
These sparrows have slate-colored heads and backs washed with brown, brown wings and rumps, and rusty brown rumps and tails. Their chins and throats are whitish, lightly flecked with brown. Their breasts and flanks are heavily spotted with dark brown that generally forms a central spot. The belly is whitish and unspotted. The upper mandible is grayish brown; the lower mandible is yellow in the Slate-colored Fox Sparrow and blue-gray in the Large-billed Fox Sparrow. These two forms are separated principally by bill size.

Recording credits:
All three examples of Fox Sparrow songs were recorded by Leonard J. Peyton, and they are included on LNS' Bird Songs of Alaska production.

Copyright© 1999 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Song 1: South coastal dark form recorded in Codova, Alaska.

Song 2: Red-backed form, recorded in Anchorage, Alaska.

Song 3: Red-backed form recorded in Copper River drainage area, Alaska.

Eastern ("Red") Fox Sparrow